


From Ashes

by firefright



Category: Batman: Arkham (Video Games), Batman: Arkham - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: Alternate Ending, Angst, Dick Grayson can't be stopped, Dick/Jason if you squint, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Jason Todd Has Issues, post-knightfall protocol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-23
Updated: 2015-08-23
Packaged: 2018-04-16 20:14:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4638723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firefright/pseuds/firefright
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events of Arkham Knight and the enactment of the Knightfall Protocol, Dick finds Jason and tries to convince him to come home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	From Ashes

Gotham was still standing even though her champion was gone.

It didn't seem right, as if the only way Batman should have fallen was with the city following after him. In his head Batman and the city had always been linked as dark reflections of each other, a lady and her dark knight. Gotham needed Batman and Batman -

Batman was gone.

Jason watched the lights of the city from the top of the Bleake Island bridge, still bright despite his best efforts, and tried to still the trembling in his hands. The knowledge of what he'd done was twisting in his gut like a knife because it was all his fault; he had been weak, he'd let himself be twisted and manipulated by the Joker into doing exactly what the maniac had wanted all along.

It had seemed so simple at the start of the night. He'd had a plan, a purpose that felt strong and pure in his chest even though it was based in hate. Bruce had left him, abandoned him and then finally _replaced_ him; completing the holy trinity of crimes against Jason Peter Todd. 

God, he hadn't meant to - but he had, he'd absolutely meant for it to be this way. He'd wanted Batman to die, then he'd wanted to save him and what do you know? In a way both his wishes had come true. Funny how things worked out.

No, it wasn't funny at all and the only man who'd be laughing was mercifully already dead.

"Jason?"

He froze in place, in shock at being found. The voice was shaky, disbelieving but undeniably Dick Grayson. _How?_ was the first question that came to mind, though he was immediately sure he knew the answer. Even if he didn't suspect he didn't have long to wait for it to be confirmed.

"B - he sent a message, before... said I needed to find you." Nightwing can't seem to voice what had happened out loud yet, cutting himself off before the words could cross his lips as his light footsteps came closer and Jason knew he was only hearing him because Dick wanted him to. "I thought it had to be a joke but -"

"But it made too much sense, right?" He answered quietly, still not turning his head. His helmet sat next to him, leaving him no protection from Dick's gaze and Jason didn't want him to see his face, not after what the Joker had done to it. He didn't want to see the revulsion and pity that would surely be in his brothers eyes.

He can hear Dick move right behind him, close enough that he could easily throw Jason off the bridge before the younger man had a chance to stop him if he wanted. Jason wouldn't even blame him if he did. "It's Bruce, he doesn't joke. Not about things like this."

Jason laughed bitterly, turning his eyes down to the dark waters of the bay, "Yeah, there's that too." He's not sure that it isn't a bad joke anyway, since it would have been better for all of them if he'd died like they thought he had. "Surprise?"

A hand lands on his shoulder, light enough he barely feels it underneath his armour. His new costume isn't much of a costume at all, just the remnants of the Arkham Knight's uniform with a bat symbol clumsily painted on the front in red spray paint. It'd been enough to clue Bruce in at the time and enough to tell everyone anyone looking his way exactly where his allegiance lies.

He really hoped that Crane was still screaming in his cell.

"I'm so sorry, Jason." 

"... what?" Dick was sorry? Why? Jason was the one who should be sorry, he was the one who'd brought Gotham to its knees and caused Batman's downfall by spilling his secrets to Scarecrow and the men he'd recruited. He was the one who orchestrated Barbara's kidnapping and the fact he'd protected her while she was in the militia's custody didn't mean squat, he'd still done it. That wasn't even beginning to go into all the trouble he'd caused his family in the months leading up to tonight's attack.

He should have listened to her, to Barbara. She'd tried to tell him the truth early on and he hadn't believed her, too convinced of the righteousness of his cause.

"I'm sorry," his older brother kept on talking, "That we stopped looking, that we didn't realise you were still alive. We were all so convinced, Bruce spent hours and hours analysing that video for some kind of trick without finding anything. I don't even know how he could stand doing it, I barely managed to watch it once." He's starting to babble, grief and horror mixed up in his voice, "I'm so, _so_ sorry, little wing."

The trembling in his hands got worse as Jason shook his head in denial, as much as another part of him felt vindicated by the apology and surprised at hearing that Bruce had scoured the Joker's footage for the truth so thoroughly he can't let Dick carry on - he shouldn't be surprised, he knows, but the clown had driven his manipulation deep into Jason's brain. It wasn't the kind of conditioning he was going to be able to shake off in a single night.

"Don't," he cut him off, voice starting to crack. "It's me, I'm the one who should apologise. I'm the one who fucked everything up."

"Jason -"

"I went after the Joker alone, I turned off my tracker." It flowed from him like blood from an open wound, steadily rising in volume, "I wanted to stop him, once and for all - I went there to kill him after what he did at that kindergarten, against everything Bruce taught us and I - I failed. Somehow he knew I'd come and I got myself captured, I got myself into that mess and I let that freak get into my head! And now Batman's gone and it's my fault!"

Dick's arms wrap around him, one armoured arm braced across his chest while the other hand cupped the side of his head to turn his face back into his brothers neck. He tried not to scream, to sob, but it was all crashing down on him at once. The year of isolation and suffering under the Joker's hands, then the months afterwards where he'd survived, moved and functioned purely on the power of his hatred; it was all too much and he shouldn't have been surprised that he was finally breaking apart all over again.

"I've got you, I've got you, Jay." Dick sounds like he's choking up too, rocking them both back and forth as the wind tugged and howled at them over the bridge, covering up the sound of Jason's raw grieving even if there anyone below to hear it. "Shhh, it's going to be okay, I've got you..."

"No it's not!" he thundered, almost breaking free of the hold except Dick kept his grip firm so Jason ended up collapsing back against him instead. He was so tired, physically and emotionally, as desperate for the contact as much as he felt he doesn't deserve it. "It's not going to be okay, N!"

"Yes it is." Dick stood his ground, speaking determinedly again his temple. "Maybe not now, maybe not tomorrow or a week or even a month from now, but it will be okay, Jason. You'll be okay."

"You don't know that!"

"Yes I do!" The older vigilante softened his voice immediately after raising it, "I do. I know you, Jason, you're strong, stronger than you think."

"No I'm not. I gave in, I _broke_. I let the Joker -"

"The Joker had you for months! _Months _. Any one of us would have snapped, the fact you held out as long as you did is incredible." Dick sounded so earnest and Jason wanted so badly to believe him. "You didn't let him do anything, okay? He was a monster and he tortured you, and... and yeah, okay, what you did after has been pretty bad -"__

__Jason laughed bleakly at that, understatement of the year._ _

__"But that doesn't mean you can't turn it around." his big brother continued to insist, "You already started. Don't tell me that bat on your chest is for nothing."_ _

__"No, no I..." he closed his eyes, "I was there when Scarecrow had Bruce, I stopped him killing him. The shot that knocked the gun from his hand, it was me." For all the good it did. He'd still been too late to stop Crane from broadcasting Batman's identity to the world._ _

__Dick took the confession to heart though, "There you go. You're a good guy, Jason, you just got lost for a while."_ _

__He hiccuped a little, shaking his head. He had no idea how Dick stayed this optimistic. "You still talk like you belong in a TV special."_ _

__"Yeah well, not everyone can be doom and gloom in this family, little wing." His brother squeezed him tighter for a few seconds, seeming to believe he'd won the conversation. "Now, are you going to let me take you home or do I have to drag you there?"_ _

__"Home?" Jason asked, disbelieving as he pulled his head back from Dick's neck and finally looked him in the face. The sharp intake of breath on Nightwing's part didn't go unnoticed, nor did the way Dick's face paled under his mask. Nice to know he called that one correctly._ _

__It made Jason grit his teeth but he at least had to give his big brother credit for recovering quickly, "My home, not..." Not the manor, not the manor ever again. "In Bludhaven."_ _

__"You sure you want to have a criminal in your apartment, Officer Grayson?" Jason rubbed hard at his face with the back of his glove over the tear tracks. Up this high the cold wind stung viciously where the salt had left his skin feeling raw. "Could be bad for your rep."_ _

__"It can be our secret." Dick's hand cupped the back of head face again when Jason dropped his arm back down, "You sleep on the couch, shine my shoes, maybe take out the trash..."_ _

__"Full of empty cereal boxes."_ _

__He snorted fondly, pushing Jason's head back before standing up and offering him a hand to his feet, "Well look at that, you're still a little shit."_ _

__"Try my best." After a moment of hesitation Jason took his hand and let himself be hauled upwards. "Dick, seriously, I can't.."_ _

__"Just tonight then, and tomorrow you can do whatever you want. Stay, leave, I won't stop you." Dick offered in compromise, "Your choice."_ _

__He was telling the truth, Jason could tell Dick really meant it. He was offering Jason a safe place and a bed for the night, a good distance from Gotham where maybe he could try and get his head together without staring the giant reminder of everything he'd done wrong in the face. Not only that but Dick was trusting him not to stab him in the back, like he really believed Jason had turned over a new leaf in the last hours since he and Bruce talked._ _

__There's so much Dick didn't know about him, he thought, the things he'd done and Jason was sure he was looking at him with rose-tinted glasses, remembering the kid that Jason used to be instead of the man he was now. He knew that and still he sighed in surrender, bending down to pick up his helmet as he nodded. Score one for big brother's stubborn resolve. "One night, Dick. One."_ _

__Dick smile was like victory, barely tainted by what had happened that night as his arm immediately draped over Jason's shoulders, proving that he was forever touch orientated - or maybe still marvelling and needing to prove to himself that Jason was alive at all. "Okay, great, so you - wow you got tall." He just seemed to have noticed that with how his arm was being stretched upwards around his little brothers neck. "Um, anyway, my bike's not far and you can ride with me. It won't take us long to get there, then we can order some food and get cleaned up because I still stink like Penguin -"_ _

__"That's what that is."_ _

__"Rude." He didn't stop smiling, even giving Jason an extra squeeze like he'd handed him a compliment instead of the opposite before pulling away._ _

__"Are you sure you don't want to stay here?" He tried one last time to dissuade Dick, "Barbara and the replacement -"_ _

__" _Tim_. His name's Tim." Dick's expression froze for a moment, his eyes narrowing under his mask with a look that promised they'd be talking about what was behind Jason's use of that term later. "I already spoke to Bab's and they're with the Commissioner, so they'll be fine for now." He nudged Jason's ribs with his elbow. "Come on, little wing, show me that you can still keep up."_ _

__"With you, big bird? Any day." Jason reached for his grapple a second after the older vigilante did, sparing one last glance for Gotham's brightening skyline before he was swinging down from the bridge and onto the city streets. Running at Dick's heels, the way he had countless times before, as they made their way to the alley where he'd hidden the bike felt painfully, wonderfully familiar. Jason didn't even mind that his brother never shut up the whole way there, taunting and teasing him to keep pace; he was content to let the words fade into a comforting background noise, right up until they reached the bike and Dick took the conversation in another direction entirely._ _

__"- third one I've had this year, can you believe it? Someone stole two of them right out from under me and I still haven't found the guy responsible."_ _

__Jason stopped dead and found himself having to bite down on his lip suddenly as he watched Nightwing pull the bike out from behind a dumpster, fighting to hold his laughter in check. It seemed ridiculous in retrospect, childish even though he'd had a good reason for doing it at the time and Dick didn't even have a clue. It shouldn't be so funny, except that after everything he desperately needed something to laugh about._ _

__He decided to wait until he'd climbed on the bike behind Dick and they were already speeding down the deserted street to tell him, making it less easy on his brother to decide to dump him if this truth turned out to be the last straw of his ability to forgive. Dick had promised him refuge for the night and he was going to hold him to that, no matter what._ _

__"Hey Dick?" Jason started to smile despite himself as he leaned forwards to talk into his ear. The pressure in his chest was easing with every mile that took them out of Gotham. "About your bikes..."_ _

**Author's Note:**

> This is a quick fic I wrote while working on my ongoing stories, because the plot of Arkham Knight (aka as that universe that somehow manages to make Jason Todd suffer even more than the original did) will not leave my feels alone. Also I refuse to believe Bruce would have up and faked his death like that without doing something to try and help Jason first, which in this case is setting Dick on his tail.
> 
> Notes:  
> \- The incident Jason and Dick are referring to at the end happens in the Arkham Knight prequel comics, where Jason really did steal two of Dick's bikes from him in the name of using their tech for his tanks battle systems.  
> \- This fic is written before the publication of _Batman: Arkham Knight - Genesis_ , the comic that will detail Jason's transformation into the Knight (which I can't wait to read) and so may not be in line with what is revealed there.


End file.
